In Memoriam: Doris Iklé, Energy Efficiency Innovator and Entrepreneur

On June 1, energy efficiency advocates lost a visionary. Doris M. Iklé, a pioneer in home energy efficiency and a longtime friend and patron of the Alliance to Save Energy, passed away peacefully at her home in Bethesda, Md., with her family by her side.

“Doris Iklé found a way to make a difference through her passion for energy efficiency. In so doing, she not only was able to help more than 350,000 families save energy and money and to train more than 2,000 people to undertake home energy audits, but she also built a strong and successful company that will continue this important work,” said Alliance President Kateri Callahan. “As an entrepreneur, as an avid efficiency advocate, as a female pioneer in an industry dominated by men, Doris served as a role model and inspiration to many including me; Doris was my mentor and my friend, and she will be missed.”

Iklé was a strong supporter of the Alliance, both personally and through CMC Energy Services, the company she founded in 1977. CMC Energy has been an Alliance Associate since 1995.

Iklé’s legacy as an energy efficiency innovator and industry leader is perhaps best seen through the accomplishments of CMC Energy, a Women’s Business Enterprise headquartered in Fort Washington, Penn. CMC Energy designs and delivers energy efficiency programs for households, utilities and government agencies; the company also conducts energy audits and trains energy auditors. Through CMC Energy, Iklé dedicated her career to addressing the worldwide energy challenge with practical, energy-efficient strategies that reached thousands of homes across the United States.

Iklé and CMC Energy

After three decades at the helm of CMC Energy, in 2009 Iklé became the company’s chief innovation officer and handed over her position as president to energy consultant Eileen McGinnis. In May 2012, Iklé retired and bestowed her post as board chair to her daughter Mimi Iklé-Khalsa.

“Doris has spent her career helping her country face the energy challenge with a practical, efficient, effective energy conservation strategy,” McGinnis said upon assuming her position as CMC Energy president in December 2009.

“CMC Energy is continuing as a viable, growing company under the strong leadership of Eileen and Mimi, ensuring that Doris’s vision for energy efficiency for families across America is realized,” Callahan noted.

Iklé and the Alliance to Save Energy

For her decades-long championship of energy efficiency, Iklé received the Alliance’s Lifetime Achievement Award on May 11, 2010, during an Associates Reception at that year’s EE Global Forum in Washington, D.C. As a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Iklé was inducted into the Alliance’ Energy Efficiency Hall of Fame, joining fellow energy efficiency visionaries including Alliance co-founder Senator Charles H. Percy and former California Energy Commissioner Arthur H. Rosenfeld.

More on Doris Iklé

Miriam Bergjoined the Alliance to Save Energy’s Communications team in July 2010, after two years of freelance writing and editing. She came on as Senior Associate for Publications and Online Content and was promoted in July 2011 to Project Manager.

This blog originally appeared on the Alliance to Save Energy's website.

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